Jeffrey receiving a memento at the event.
KOTA KINABALU (Feb 5): Sabah needs to create an extraordinary policy that will enable the state to achieve the per capita income of USD12,000.
Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Seri Panglima Dr Jeffrey Kitingan said that presently, Sabah’s per capital income is at USD6,000 while the nation’s per capita income is at USD12,000.
“To achieve this, Sabah needs major investments which has never thought of before this.
“I am confident that we can achieve this target as Sabah needs to set the target for development,” he said to reporters at the STAR party Chinese New Year celebration at Wisma Kinsabina on Sunday.
Jeffrey, who is also STAR president, added that Sabah has a huge potential to be developed under the new approach.
He said that the present state policy provides opportunities for foreign investors to invest in Sabah as the state is not only dependent on federal government allocation as the nation is also affected economically due to global market uncertainties.
“One of the means for Sabah to achieve the per capita income is through conservation approaches.
“If before, trees are cut down, causing climate change, flooding and fire, we are now heading towards conservation which enables us to reap income from the sales of carbon.
Jeffrey said that the carbon is now needed by the world to stabilise climate change and the approach is capable of helping the state government generate Sabah’s economy towards sustainability.
Sabah has set up an interim committee on climate change to develop an enactment on carbon exchange.
Its chairman, Datuk Sam Mannan who is a former chief forest conservator, was reported to have said last August that the Sabah Foundation would take the lead in carbon exchange deals.
He also disclosed that the state government had recently landed a deal on carbon exchange after 10 years of deliberation, involving 80,000ha of forest land in Kuamut.
An advance payment had been made by a UK-based partner of the state government.
Carbon credit trading is a market-based system designed to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming, especially carbon dioxide, by creating a financial incentive to do so.